Here is the result of our latest poll:Would you not join a tournament if it included a...Assassin game? 9%Terminator game? No votesFreestyle game? 44%Any of the above? 6%Fog of War? 1.5%Spoils? 1.5%These settings would not stop me from joining. 38% Total votes : 66

Our latest poll is now up: What portion of your game load are tournament games? Please stop by the Suggestion Thread and vote.

blacky44 wrote:Franchise and International Tournaments

Now you can have your very own franchise tournament by calling this number 555-555-5555. Just kidding but this is for real: you can have a franchise tag put on your tournaments by having 5 or more tournaments with the same name and same style. If you do achieve this very respectable goal you will have your medals for those tournaments combined and be given a brand spankin' new one. You will also get a special designation in the Hall of Fame. That tournament will be retired and that name is designated as yours and yours only (Unless you give permission for someone esle to use it).

Now you non-English speaking folk can also run and join tournaments but wait, there is a catch. In order to run a tournament for that international country you must be from or speak that language and when sending in privileges you must send in a English translation of your request. You must also frequently be in the international forums. You can not run more than two tournaments at a time for international tournaments. The organizer is responsible for sending in the results of the tournament. The rules are basically the same about abandoned tournament policy.To read more go to this link it includes post tags and a important message for all you tournament organizers.

This is blacky44 saying good bye.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors by stahrgazer

Back when SuperNES was popular, I found a used game for a couple bucks at a video store. The title made it seem the game would be something like “Night of the Living Dead.” I took it home, began playing, and never had so much fun as in that silly little two-dollar used game. Well, okay, CC is more fun; it was especially hilarious the night the Zombies unexpectedly woke up on Arms Race and began eating all the neighbours. Here’s a sample of the reactions:

Those CC cynics among us “know” that this was all some big conspiracy by the Admin. Here’s the evidence they can point to!

Twill wrote: well, we've been looking for a way to remove points from the pool, maybe this is it if neutral wins

And, they’ll add, the Admin are trying to pass the buck and the blame!

Twill wrote: he'll probably blame it on me for letting a non-standard game get started

Some, like me, thought this was an example of the "infected neutrals" being discussed in Suggestions and Bug Reports: http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=40294&start=0As you can read in the thread, some of those CC helping hands (and minds) have been working on ways to give a “Neutrals attack” option; Zombies coming to life. The truth is, "infected neutrals" are still being designed; not tested. Instead, this is an example of the Battle Royale (BR) coding conflicting with Arms Race coding; in Arms Race, certain positions are designed to begin as neutral. Battle Royale coding tries to put people on those neutral positions.

Twill wrote: It's like in I Robot - "random bits of code combining to make the appearence of inteligence." Apparently the code doesn’t play well with lots of neutral players. It wasn't planned, although it would have made a great April fool’s joke (for the person who won at least).

Game 3960030 will stand simply as part of CC Battle Royale lore. It's up there with Lack getting stuck on Alcatraz in a BR game he created on the san fran map, or the assassin game that finished as soon as the first person killed someone.

This BR/Zombie-neutral coding conflict is not the only recent instance of the dead returning to life. Two tournaments that had been abandoned have been revitalized.

Said BaldAdonis of Harder Better Stronger Faster http://www.conquerclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=77253 “I liked a lot of things about the tournament, and most I thought were quite innovative. Besides enjoying the maps, settings and players, I really liked the scoring methods. It manages to distribute points to players who don't win, but it also skews towards winners: the bottom 4 take 7/54 total points, and every player gets more points than the total of players at least two lower than him. It also takes into account the game style. In terminator, the first to make a kill is the top player. In assassin, the more armies you have left, the higher you rank. These give a lot of different strategies in the same tournament.

"It helps that they're all 8 player games, so I only need to make 100 games, and it includes 60 players. Compare that with a 2 player league, where I need to make 500+ games for 20 players. I've also won all my games so far, so I'd hate to throw that away.”

Adds God Emperor Q about the Slaughter Ball World Championship http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=76571 “OK, well, i checked in on the tourney every now and then, when i found out on jan 15 that tender (the previous tourney runner) hadn't been on till jan 1st. I couldn't take over till feb 1st, but I took over because there was interest in people to still play and I was interested in still playing as well, and I decided to step up and try and make it happen. I had some free time, and I just wanted to get this fun tourney back on its feet. And, yeah, the prize of 6 months premium wasn't hurting matters either.”

for those CC Dr. Frankensteins who brought our tournaments back to life!

Is it common on CC for the dead to come back to life? News Hound got the answer from Tourney Director Gilligan: "I've been in tournaments that got abandoned, particularly a Feudal War doubles tournament I was in with banana_hammocks - We got to the semis, and it got abandoned, on top of that it was worth premium membership. Moral of the story: Don't abandon tournaments!" He adds, "I'd rather see tournaments get resurrected after abandonment. It makes the leaders still show off for doing good in a tournament that finished rather than abandoned and not have the disappointment. It doesn't happen all that often but it does happen.”

Sometimes, the CC community can seem a little lifeless, but don’t let those moments fool you. Beneath that zombie exterior is a pulse of excitement. That pulse is evidenced with people like GEQ and BA who are willing to nurture the tournaments that the original organizers first brought to life and then, sadly, had to leave behind. It is also evidenced by the creative minds willing to take a coding chance that, while imperfect, will give CC members moments of uproarious laughter for years to come. News Hound is sure that we have not seen the last of the Conquer Club Zombies, either in games or in tournaments.

And of the 1283 points he won when the Zombies ate his neighbors, PepperJack said: This is the lamest and awesomest win ever!

--stahrgazer

Lve Wars by stahrgazer

In their constant search to improve the site and imbue it with the spirit of whatever holiday (or other reasonable excuse) comes along, the Moderators of Conquer Club have issued a Tournament-style challenge to the members to engage them in a tourney after their own hearts: Love a mod. Hate a mod. Whac-a-mod?viewtopic.php?f=1&t=77716&view=unread#unread

Yes, CC fans, the Moderators are making themselves targets in this tournament complete with its own Medal of conquest for those combatants who successfully turn the moderators into bloody Valentines.

Some games are singles, some doubles, and in some cases the moderator(s) allow the opponent(s) to choose the weapon (map) and settings. At the time of this writing, 102 games are complete, with the Moderators ahead by 16 games. CC citizens are going to have to do better than this if they want that special medal (the design of which is not yet revealed) being offered up as the key to the Moderators’ hearts.

So go scope out one of the Moderators and ask him or her to be your Valentine in this Tournament of Love, Hate, and lots of bloody Fun.

--stahrgazer

New record of most users being online! Most users ever online was 1533 on Mon Feb 16, 2009 4:45 PM

MLB 2009 TourneyOrganizer: geigermA 1v1 tourney following the 2009 Major League Baseball schedule. Players must choose a home map and a rotation of five "pitchers" (groups of settings) that will determine the gameplay throughout the season.

Class StruggleOrganizer: TaCktiXA metamap tournament based off of The Citadel, both in map and in reality. Very low game load (likely 4-5 most rounds), but likely a high number of rounds.Players needed: 6 regular, 5 reserves

The Evolutionary TournamentOrganiser: WoodruffPremium Prize!This is a 64-entrant triple-elimination tournament, organized into three brackets (Bracket A, Bracket B and Bracket C). Bracket A is the bracket of those with no losses. Bracket B is the bracket of those with one loss. Bracket C is the "elimination bracket", if you will.

Rough estimate of percent complete/signed up:

Within Bracket A, we have 12 of the "Sweet Sixteen" finalized, those being poo-maker, reahma, demy7, dragon dor, ga7, The Voice, madman7, sully800, tsioumiou, Poisonous86 and Seulessliathan. In addition, Taurelias was a Sweet Sixteener, but was beaten by our only quarterfinalist so far (Seulessliathan).

In Bracket B, we are just getting underway with nobody past the third round (of seven). Currently, we have five entrants in that third round, who are bigreuben, Destroyers Inc., Taurelias, MoB Deadly and ShootAndMiss.

Bracket C has not hardly done anything, as the initial first-round matchups have just started to be filled. However, there are already 16 (one-fourth!) players in the C Bracket, to include the Tournament Organizer who is an ignominious 0-2 so far.

This week we had the chance to talk with HighlanderAttack. All the questions in the interview are based off input from newsletter readers. Next week's interview is with geigerm. You can get your questions in by posting in this thread.

Now, on with the Interview!

Q: Hello, HighlanderAttack.

A:Hi

Q:What makes you interview worthy?

A:"There can be only one", no really, I believe I have become a worthy CC fixture.

Q:How did you find this website?

A: Actually I found it over a year ago searching for somewhere to play Risk. Never signed up until late July though.

Q: Why did you join CC?

A: So me and a friend could battle each other.

Q:Why did you start to play tournaments?

A: pzaviski2003 sent me a pm to join Captian Moo's Challenge Tourney. I got second and became addicted to tournaments

Q:What made you want to start running tournaments?

A: I wanted to start in December because I have always been one to set up and run things. I have a great idea which I will actually have the details out this week. Blitzaholic asked me to continue the All Around CC Maps series started by coded.

Q: How long have you been organizing tournaments?

A: Just about a month now

Q:What tournament did you first run?

A: All Around CC Maps: Caribbean Islands

Q: Where did you come up with your tournament ideas?

A: I used to tour Foosball around the united states so I was used to a double elimination format. I just used what I knew to add a twist to the format coded came up with. My new tournament which will be announced will be similar to a sports league/fantasy sports league. I have always run fantasy football leagues since I was about 14.

Q: Who do you look to for inspiration when organizing your tournaments?

A: Blitzaholic, Serbia, flexmaster33, barterer2002 to mention a few

Q: Describe the experience of your first tournament ran, and first played in.

A: First one run is still going on and it has been more time consuming than I thought. I have started using it and the other two to gain a system to make it easier. Running tournaments can be a lot of work. It is fun and I am really enjoying it. The more experience I gain and the better system I come up with organizing the data will help me in the future.

My first tournament I ever joined got me hooked to tournament play. As I mentioned before it was Captian Moo's Challenge Tourney. I got second in the final game which was a tie breaker game. It was a great rush.

Q: How many tournaments have you run already, and do you have a goal in mind for how many you want to run in total before you "retire"? How many are you running right now?

A: Three so far and I plan on many many more with no plans of retirement.

Q:What tournaments have you organized?

A: So far just the All Around CC Maps (Caribbean Islands, CCU, and Centerscape)

Q:What is your favourite tournament you have run?

A: All Around CC Maps CCU because it is a 32 player seeded double elimination singles tourney

Q: What is your favorite tournament you’ve played in? Why?

A: I actually have three:12 Battles of Christmas - II because I played great and won it. Captian Moo's Challenge Tourney-my first and a great experienceBattle for Escalating Supremacy--still going on but the first round gave me two great friends Sun Tzup and Serbia--the battle was unreal and went down to a tie-breaker after about a month of battling.

Q:Do you prefer to run or enter tournaments?

A:enter

Q: Is there a specific type of format that you tend to gravitate towards? Why? Is there a format that is your favourite?

A: heads up league style games because I have always been involved in sports leagues real and fantasy

Q: Do you find it easier to choose tournament settings yourself, or to let the players customize them?

A: Choose them myself

Q: Overall, are you playing a lot in tournaments? If not, then why and where do you find your games to play?

A: I have about 80 active games at all times and at least 70 are tournament games. It gets a bit crazy

Q: How excited where you with your first CC win?

A: First tourney win was amazing. Can't even remember my first CC win.

A: Probably Escalators because the competition was so great and I messed up a move on the final game costing me a possible victory

Q: In your mind, what makes a successful tournament?

A: One that runs smoothly and in a timely manner. One that is not too complicated with too many crazy rules.

Q: What do you consider to be the most successful tournaments you've seen run?

A: 2008 College Basketball Season by flexmaster33 is organized well with wonderful spreadsheet standings and a thread filled with many pages of interested participants. The size of the tournament is so large I have no idea how he keeps up with it.

Q: What is the best Tournament that you think has been underestimated?

A:I don't really have an answer for this one

Q:Have you ever been disappointed in a tournament you have run? What about one you entered?

A: Not one that I have run, but I have been disappointed in the tourneys I have joined that get started and then abandoned. If you are going to run one you have to finish it in my opinion no matter what the circumstances.

Q: What makes a successful organizer?

A: Someone organized with good communication skills

Q: How do you attract players to your tournament, and what aspect (besides a reward of a premium prize or something like that) of a tournament do you think appeals to a lot of players and why?

A: Nothing special. I would like to offer prizes in the future, but it is really all about the competition that makes people play tourneys in my opinion.

Q: Is there anything in particular that you dislike about tournament organizing?

A: I am not organized enough

Q: For you, what is the best part of being a tournament organizer?

A: I have always liked organizing things

Q: What mistakes do you see tournament organizers make the most?

A: Making games hard to join. You need to make it as simple as possible

Q: With experience comes the wisdom of knowing what mistakes you've made in the past so you can avoid them in the future. What mistakes have you made in your tournaments that you are sure to avoid in future tournaments?

A: Going to fast and leaving information out. Attention to details is important

Q:What is your opinion on organizer neutrality? Should organizers be allowed to place themselves against their own clanmates in tournaments? Should organizers be allowed to join their own tournaments at all?

A: I completely agree they should be able to join their own tournaments.

Q: Do you use a "schedule" for updating your tournaments, or do you just wait until they need an update?

A: I just check all the games periodically. I think I should use a schedule but I recently moved and was without internet for three weeks. It was a bit difficult to manage my CC.

Q:Should “question marks” be allowed to join tournaments?

A: No because it only takes five games to not be a question mark. you have to get acclimated to CC before joining one and I think five games is nothing. I am at 4600--lol

Q:Do you feel it is better to give a bye to players whose opponents deadbeats the tournament, or to use a reserve?

A: Byes for bracketed tourneys and reserves for league types. Either way it does not matter to me

Q: If you could change one thing about Conquer Club in general, what would it be?

A: I wish games could start more nuetral--no bonuses to start a game and games should start with 11-14-17-20-and so on so that it makes it harder to gain an advantage on territory bonuses

Q: If there was something that the Conquer Club administrators could implement into the game to make tournaments easier to manage, what would it be? Similarly, is there anything you would like to see taken away from Conquer Club to make running tournaments easier?

A: So far I cant see anything that would make it easier either way

Q: If you are thinking purely on balance of tournament games is there anything you would want changing?

A: nothing comes to mind on this one

Q: Is there anything that you would recommend to encourage new tournament organizers?

A: Plan ahead and stay organized

Q: List your top 5 biggest tournament headache's to this point

A: Number one is my mistakes also, organization, figuring out a way to post a chart, figuring out the codes to make joining games simpler, finding the time to do it right

Q:How much time does CC take from your day?

A: at least two hours if not 8--lol

Q:Are you a member of any clans or usergroups?

A: Black Sheep

Q:Who are you?

A: Just someone who likes competition.

Q: Why did you pick the name HighlanderAttack? Is Highlander related to a school or team mascot?

A: Highlander is actually from the tv series. Also was a popular movie

Q:Where are you from?

A: I was born in New Jersey, but grew up in Florida

Q:What do you do for work? Student?

A: IT

Q:Favourite play colour?

A: Blue

Q:Favourite and least favourite map?

A: Arms Race is the best and USA is the worst

Q:Favourite settings?

A: depends on the map sequential, chained, escalating, no fog for most though

Q:Freestyle or sequential?

A:sequential

Q: Any tournaments planned for the future? What are they?

A: CC Dynasty League--Kind of a mix between a sports/fantasy league where it is singles league play with a bunch of statistics and historical data kept.

Q: Any parting shots?

A: I am addicted CC--lol

Q: Thank you for your time.

A: Thanks for the interview--good luck to everyone

Interviews Interview with geigerm

Notes

If you want your tournament included in a future issue, please PM Gozar using this form: